Are bear attacks on hikers really increasing? The reality is complex.

This April, hikers on two popular Great Smoky Mountain National Park trails began reporting disturbing experiences with black bears. On the Ramsey Cascade Trail, one bear approached two groups of hikers and stole their backpacks, while another attacked a visitor. Ahead of the weekend, three groups of hikers experienced run-ins with bold bruins along the Abrams Falls Trail, with one hiker eating some after visiting a closed section of the park. These events were the first of several high-profile bear encounters to appear in the news, which would later include Glacier National Park’s first fatal bear attack in 28 years. Pedestrians and politicians alike reacted with concern, including former Interior Secretary and current U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke This incident is being used to renew its effort to delist grizzlies.

Are human-bear conflicts really increasing? It’s complicated. We explain what hikers need to know about co-existing with America’s largest terrestrial predators in 2026.

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If you’ve paid attention to the news lately, you’ve probably read a lot about bears. This May, there were a series of encounters between bears and hikers in the US that ended badly for the hikers. Earlier in the month, two hikers were injured in Yellowstone’s first grizzly attack of the year, resulting in the park closing a large portion of its trails. Shortly thereafter, Glacier recorded its first fatal bear attack in nearly 30 years when a missing hiker was found dead with injuries similar to those from a bear attack. Less than a month after that, Glacier saw another serious bear attack, when a hiker was mauled and seriously injured.

In the wake of these encounters, many hikers are asking: Are bear incidents becoming more common? First of all, no, bear attacks are not increasing this year. Reading the news it may seem that way because bear attacks get a lot of coverage in this publication. But, as Chris Servhein, former grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told Outside last monthBear attacks are still really rare. On average, grizzlies kill one or zero people each year in the Lower 48, and that’s a pretty incredible number when you consider how many people live in places like Glacier and Yellowstone. However, that also means that some tragic coincidences may lower that average a bit.

On the other hand, when you look at trends over the past 10 to 20 years, it seems that human-bear encounters are becoming more common. Many studies have shown that people and bears are coming into conflict more and more often. To give you an example, my home state Colorado found a 15% increase in sightings and conflicts More than an average of six years of proceedings in 2025.

So, why is this so? Well, there are a few reasons for this and as always, one is climate change. As extreme weather events become more common, they have really wreaked havoc on bears’ food sources. There have been years where things like berry harvests have failed, forcing bears to seek their calories closer to people. And the second reason: there are more of us and more of them. Outdoor recreation is more popular than ever, which means more people are taking the risk of visiting bear habitat. More people are moving into what we call the wildland-urban interface, where our habitat meets bears. And, there are more bears: California has seen the bear population increase by nearly 45% over the past 10 years. This means there are more bears to run into in the woods.

So, what does all this mean for pedestrians? Well, it is more important than ever to stay aware. Most bear attacks can be prevented by doing things like hiking in a group, making noise while hiking, and taking preventative measures like bear spray. Storing food properly is also important, as food-conditioned bear encounters have been reported. closed roads like AT. Bears are not necessarily an animal that we need to be afraid of. Many people recreation in bear country every year, and most of them do it absolutely safely. But bears are an animal that deserves our respect, and showing up with a little information can go a long way.